


Relationship Problems

by val_mariuslatte



Series: Music Heals [2]
Category: Sexy Zone
Genre: M/M, Sexy Zone - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-08 06:16:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12248667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/val_mariuslatte/pseuds/val_mariuslatte
Summary: As Kento and Fuma's relationship progress, they start finding little things they need to work out, such as not having enough alone time.





	1. Alone Time

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second book in the Music Heals series.

I walk home tonight, back from Kento's place. It's only nine or so at night. We decided to continue our piano lessons, but we don't really play the piano much. I can go ahead and say I like to play something else.  
Yeah, I'm pretty happy that I got to spend an hour "hanging out" with my secret boyfriend, and I guess you can say that we did do some things ON the piano, but Kento's parents got home early. They almost always get home early, which means there have been some close calls. Every other night, I would go to Kento's house, claiming that I'm taking piano lessons from him, and every other night, his parents would either be home or come back early. It's a real pain, but it's not all bad. When they're home, Kento and I get to talk, which is nice. Unless Bonita is doing the talking. That stupid dog really gets on my nerves, always running into the room and barking at me when all Kento does is kiss my cheek. Bonita is like that really protective parent.  
As I unlock my door and step in, my parents greet me.  
"Welcome back." My dad greets me, followed by my mom. "Be quiet. Your brother is sleeping."  
"All right." I say quietly and collapse on the couch beside my mom.  
"So how's spring break?" She asks me while flipping through a magazine.  
"Fine. I guess." I say dryly. "Only a few days left."  
"How were your piano lessons?"  
"Great." I'm just going to leave it at that.  
"Have you improved?"  
"Very much."

"Who's that from?" That Nakajima asks me as we lie sprawled across the top of my bed.  
He's wondering who just texted me.  
"It's just Shori-kun." I tell him. "He just wants to know how my vacation's been." I say and toss my phone onto my hoodie that lies crumpled on the floor.  
"Oh, hey..." Kento starts to trail off. "I've been wondering...do you want to cook together?"  
"Cook together?" I ask wearily. "Like... in the kitchen?"  
"Yeah, what other kind of cooking is there?"  
"I guess the question just surprised me." I say and see a bit of nervousness flash in Kento's eyes.  
"So I guess that's a no?" Kento asks a little sadly.  
"What?" I exclaim. "Don't go putting words in my mouth, Nakajima. Let's go."  
"Now?"  
"Yeah."  
We bounce out of my bed and walk downstairs to the kitchen.  
"Where's your family?" Kento asks, probably wondering if we're alone.  
"My parents are watching a movie in their bedroom and my brother is doing... whatever." I say and open up a cabinet. "So what do you want to make?"  
"Um... cookies?" Kento decides and looks at me hopefully.  
"I thought you wanted to cook."  
"I do."  
"But you bake cookies, Nakajima. Kento, you know I'm not very good at baking."  
Kento looks embarrassed.  
"Why don't we just go back to your room?" he suggests shyly.  
"If you want to bake, let's bake." I say. I didn't mean to shun him, but I seriously cannot bake for my life.  
First we gather ingredients and then we start. Kento takes the lead when it comes to mixing the ingredients and spacing the clumps of dough out on the cookie sheet, while I just try not to spill anything. While we wait for the cookies to bake, we eat the leftover dough. I had a little on my cheek, so Kento scrapes it off with his finger and eats it. Eventually, the cookies are done baking and they smell really nice. I have no idea how that Nakajima can bake cookies without a recipe and have them turn out... well. Mine would have turned out looking like little lumps of coal.  
"Let's decorate." Kento says after observing his handiwork.  
"Feel free." I tell him.  
"You're going to decorate, too." He says after setting together icing and sprinkles.  
"Hm... "  
Kento tilts his head at my hesitation. "You can't mess up decorating."  
"Oh, yes." I say, very sure of myself. "I can."  
There's streaks of flour all over my shirt, sugar in my hair, and yet Kento thinks I can't mess up decorating?  
"If you insist." I tell him and start spreading icing across one of the cookies.  
Immediately, the icing seems to catch on everything single crumb, causing me to jam my thumb into the cookie and get my hands all sticky.  
"Here." Kento practically hugs me from behind and on instinct I look around the kitchen to make sure no one is in there. He takes my hand with the knife and shows me how to smoothly spread the cream cheese icing on the cookie. This reminds me a lot of when Kento showed me how to play the piano. He hugged me from behind and showed me what to do with my hands.  
"It's not hard." Kento whispers into my ear and his lips are moving against my skin; his breathe warm and soft. He is sooo sexy even when he's not trying to be.  
"Fuma! Naka-kun!" My little brother bounds into the kitchen and Kento quickly breaks apart from me.  
Irritated, I snap. "What?" Why can't I get five minutes, just five freaking minutes of alone time with my boyfriend?  
"What are you doing?" My brother asks joyfully and leans on the counter across from us.  
"Making cookies." Kento replies just as cheerfully. "You want to help?"  
I sigh.  
"Yeah!"  
I knew it.  
"We're decorating, now." Kento tells my little brother and for the next fifteen minutes, the three of us spread icing on cookies and put sprinkles on the top.  
Despite Kento teaching me how to spread icing on a cookie, I still can't do it. As I try to glide the knife across the cookie, it catches and the cookie snaps in half.  
"Ugh." I sigh and try to continue icing the one half of the cookie.  
Kento interrupts his conversation with my brother and looks at me. "You need some help?"  
"Yeah, Fuma." My little brother speaks up. "I can ice cookies better than you."  
I glare at him and mutter. "Yeah, whatever."  
"Just- " Kento reaches to hold my hand and show me how to put the icing on again, but I pull away this time.  
"I got it." I snap and the cookie crumbles even more. I scrape the cookie off the counter and onto a plate where I've been keeping a pile of all the cookies I've wasted. The pile consists of mashed cookies and gooey icing lapping them all together.  
Once all of the (remaining) cookies have been decorated, my brother rushes to go get my mom. She is NOT going to be happy when she sees the mess Kento and I - mainly I - made while making the cookies.  
"Mom, look!" My brother pulls my mom into the kitchen. "I made this one." He holds up one of the cookies.  
"Aw. That's so nice." She coos and then points to my lopsided pile of cookie remains. "Did you make that, sweetie?"  
My cheeks heat up and I can feel them turning a crimson color. That Nakajima is holding in a laugh with his hand in front of his mouth.  
"No." My brother replies. "Fuma did."  
"Oh."  
My cheeks flame with hot embarrassment. Why am I embarrassed? It's not like my brother and Kento are such great bakers. Okay, so Kento is and maybe I just wanted to impress him for once, but come on, my brother is six, like he can do anything.  
After my mom sees the huge mess hiding behind Kento and I, she thinks it's time for Kento to leave.  
"Sorry about the kitchen." Kento says shyly to my mom.  
"Oh, I'm sure it wasn't your fault." She slides a glare to me.  
I scoff and turn away.  
"Fuma-kun," Kento gets my attention. "Can you come with me to get my jacket? I think I left in your room."  
I frown. His jacket is around his waist. "Okay."  
I follow Kento up to my room and when I close the door behind me, I ask, "What is it?"  
He ignores my question and asks, "What's wrong?" When I give him a confused look, he says, "You hadn't said a single thing while making cookies. You barely responded when I asked you anything. And you keep giving me that look."  
"What look?"  
"The one that's kind of like 'Seriously, Kento'." He tells me. "Something's up."  
All the frustration just kind of spills out of me. "Maybe it's because I can't kiss you without your dumb dog trying to chew my face off. Maybe it's because I can't have a single moment alone with you. Maybe it's because you invited my brother to make cookies with us when we were finally alone. Maybe it's because I can't even frost a cookie to impress my boyfriend."  
Kento's eyebrows shoot up and a small grin plays across his soft pink lips. "You were gonna try and impress me?"  
"Er... maybe." I say quietly, barely loud enough for him to hear.  
"You impress me all the time." Kento says, a little rushed, as if he has been for the perfect moment to say the words.  
"I do?"  
"Yeah." Kento says. "You're so cool. You can somehow control yourself in front of me when all I want to do is slam you against a wall and make out. You even learned how to play the piano way quicker than I did when I was younger."  
"You want to slam me against a wall?" I tease and Kento blushes, but the joking mood quickly fades. "I guess I was just frustrated that people keep interrupting us time."  
"Us time?" Kento grins.  
"I'm trying to tell you something here." I say. "Either your dog is being loud or your parents are passing through during 'piano lessons' or my brother wants to hang out with us. We're almost never alone for more than a few minutes."  
"We were alone while baking cookies." Kento says, inching closer to me. "Well, until your brother found us."  
"And I was having a good time."  
Kento adds, "We're alone now."  
"You're right." I agree. "We are, so are you going to slam me against a wall now?"  
"Let's just forget I said that." Kento rubs the back of his neck uneasily.  
I can't help it anymore. I haven't really kissed Kento since a "piano lesson" a few nights ago and we've met several times since then. I lean forward and crush his mouth against mine. That Nakajima kisses back and his arms fall around me. I bite his lip, enjoying myself, but then I hear my mom shout what's taking so long from the living room.  
We pull back and I sigh. Not again.  
"Why don't we go on vacation?"  
"What?" I ask at Kento's odd question.  
"We never get the chance to be alone because everyone is always budding in." Kento states. "But if we're not in this town, then there's no chance of running into anyone we know and it's not like your little brother or my dog will come with us."  
"You want to run away together?" I ask incredulously.  
"Yes."  
"Do you have any idea what you're saying?"  
"Yes?"  
I kiss him one last time before we leave my room.  
As Kento leaves my house, my mom tells him. "Have a good day." Once he's gone, she turns to me and says, "Go clean up that mess in the kitchen, now."


	2. Beach Vacation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I published this on Friday the thirteenth!! O^O 
> 
> Haha, anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter two! Kento was quite serious when he offered Fuma a vacation~

"You seriously want me to ask my mom?" I giggle into my phone. "Kento, I don't think she'll say yes."  
"Just ask." That Nakajima says cheerfully from the other end of the line. "It's just a day trip to the beach."  
"Okay, okay." I get up from my bed and walk downstairs and into the kitchen where my mom is with my brother. "Hey, Mom." I get her attention and she looks up at me from her seat at the table. I cover the speaker of my cellphone so Kento can't hear what I'm saying. "I'm on the phone with Kento-kun and he asked if I could go to the beach with him tomorrow. So can I go?"  
"How long would you be staying?" My mom asks.  
"It's just a day trip."  
"Are his parents going?" My mom taps a pencil on the table.  
"No..." I trail off.  
"Then all right."  
"Wait. Seriously?" I ask her, surprised she actually allowed me to go.  
"Yeah."  
"Wait. Seriously?" My little brother looks at my mom with wide eyes. "Can I go, too? I want to see Kento-kun!"  
"No." I answer immediately.  
"Please, Fuma-kun?"  
"No."  
My mom tells my brother of how he wasn't invited and I go back up to my room.  
"So what'd she say?" Kento asks me with hope in his voice.  
"She said yes." I tell him and I hear him exclaim, "Yes!" on the other end of the line. I can almost imagine him pumping a fist into the air.

I shut the car door and Kento pulls away from my house. It's early in the morning and you can still see dark clouds in the west where the sunlight hasn't quite hit yet.  
"So where're we off to?" I ask Kento, who for some reason is wearing ridiculously dark sunglasses this early in the morning.  
"Shimoda beach." He says and then adds, "About a few hours away."  
"A few hours to kill...." I trail off and rifle through my bag. "You want to listen to some music. I'm still half-asleep so I don't feel like talking right now."  
"Yeah, sure."  
I pull out KAT-TUN's first album, 'Best of KAT-TUN', and pop it into the car's radio. As Kento pulls out onto the highway and the music starts to play, I turn to scan the backseat of the car. It's not dirty or anything, but there's got to be at least four different jackets back there and two hats.  
"Why's there so many jackets back there?" I throw my thumb in the direction of the backseat even though Kento doesn't look because he's driving.  
"Oh, um," Kento says. "I'll bring a jacket in case it rains, but when it doesn't, it just gets in the way, so I just kind of toss them in the backseat."  
I scoff and relax into the passenger seat, just feeling the car move and listening to the music. About an hour through the drive I switch out the discs in the radio for KAT-TUN's second album.  
"Oh, yeah." Kento says and starts rocking to the beat. After the first few verses, Kento starts singing along. I don't mean singing with control and like a professional, I mean like a soccer mom trying to annoy her kids in the car. Kento just belts everything out so that the people driving by can hear him. At first it kind of annoys me, but his voice evens out and it actually sounds kind of nice.  
"You should be in an idol group." I tell him.  
"I should, shouldn't I?" He smiles.  
Suddenly I find myself singing along as well, but I sound nothing like Kento. Kento is hitting all the high notes while I hit all the low ones.  
"Let's get something to eat." Kento pulls in a drive thru.  
Let's just say the clerk did not appreciate our good singing.

We jump out of the car, mostly only carrying our towels and shirts, and start running to the beach.  
"I'll beat you!" I scream while racing my secret boyfriend.  
I slow down when I reach the sand; I've won. That Nakajima comes in a few seconds behind me, but trips and kisses the sand. I kneel down to help him up and he gladly takes my hand. He spits out a bit of sand.  
"You're not really enticing me to kiss you right now." I rub his back before laying my towel down.  
"Yeah, yeah." He says and lies his towel beside mine.  
The beach is fairly crowded, full of ladies getting suntans and old men walking their dogs.  
Kento hands me the sunscreen after lathering some onto his bare chest and face. "Can you get my back?" He bats his long lashes at me and I shake my head, but start smoothing the lotion on his back.  
Minutes later, we're waist deep in the rolling waves, just kind of wading.  
"So tell me about you." Kento suddenly asks me over the sound of the ocean.  
"What?" I say, confused.  
"I'm with you almost every spare minute I have, but whenever we talk, we never really talk about ourselves."  
"You want me to talk about myself?" He nods. "What do you want to know?"  
"Um...what's your favorite color?"  
"You can ask me anything and you choose to ask what my favorite color is?" I ask and despite my disbelieving tone, I answer. "Purple. What about you?"  
"Red." Kento says and fills his cupped hands with salt water. "I guess you like to listen to KAT-TUN."  
"Yeah, and you must love to sing."  
"Oh, yeah." Kento blushes a little and a light, red flush creeps up his neck. "You like to sing? Dance?"  
"I like to sing." I say and then add, "and dance when no one is around."  
"I like to dance." Kento says and his neck and cheeks get really red when he says, "I want to teach you some time. I want to dance with you."  
I grin at the shy way he said the words and looked down. "You want to dance with me?" I tease him and say, "I thought you wanted to slam me against a wall."  
Kento's eyes widen and he waves his arms in front of him. "I thought we were over that!" I laugh and he says, "So... no to the dance?"  
"Darn, Nakajima." I sigh. "Stop putting words in my mouth."  
"I was just asking!"  
"Of course I want to dance with you." I say and wrap my arms around his neck. "Come on. Dance with me."  
Kento wraps his arms around my waist and we sway back and forth as I rest my head on Kento's shoulder and close my eyes. Kento gently pulls me off and twirls me around, slowly, since we're in the water. Then he dips me to where only my shoulders and above are above the water and he kisses me. I wrap my arms around him tighter to bring him closer to me. And to, you know, not drown, but I'm pretty Kento is going to suffocate me anyway.

Several hours later after lunch and a bunch of snacks on the beach, Kento and I walk while holding hands. The sun is resting on the horizon and there's far less people out at the time of day, only a few other walkers.  
"This has been nice, Kento." I tell him and squeeze his hand a little. "Thanks."  
"N-no need to thank me." Kento rushes to say.  
I pull his left hand up to mine and kiss the knuckles before lowering it. Kento looks away and raises his empty right hand to his mouth like a cute school girl.  
"Kikuchi-kun? Nakajima-kun?" We both turn around at the sound of our names being called, dropping our hands in the process. A woman in a sun dress walk up to us. "Oh, it is you two!"  
"Oh, hi, Minda Sensei." Kento tells her politely. "Nice to see you."  
"Nice to see you, too." She straightens out her dress. "I didn't expect to see anyone on my spring vacation."  
"Me either." Kento says.  
"So what are you two doing?" Minda asks, then looks at me. "I see you made friends with your piano teacher."  
"Yeah, we're pretty close." I tell her.  
"That's good. You look pretty close." She smiles, which makes me wonder if she saw us holding hands.  
"What does that mean?" I ask, since that's a safe question. Right?  
"Oh, you know." She shrugs. "A beach vacation together."  
"Yeah, okay." I nod and cross my arms over my chest.  
"Well, I'll let you get back to...whatever." She says and I swear she just winked at me before she turns away.  
"Bye." Kento says and I mutter.  
When she's out of range, Kento and I wrap our arms around each other and walk the other direction.  
"Did you see that?" I ask Kento.  
"See what?"  
"She winked at me." I tell him.  
"Minda Sensei? She did not."  
"Oh, yes, she did." I state and add, "I think she saw us holding hands." For some reason, saying it out loud makes it seem like a much stronger possibility, and that just kind of ticks me off. Today was supposed a date with absolutely no interruptions and what's the chance of running into your music teacher? Now that I think about it, if it weren't for Minda Sensei, Kento and I wouldn't be together. She was the one who gave me his address for piano lessons.  
"I don't know." Kento says slowly. "I'd like to think she didn't, but I guess you never know. Besides, who cares? Who's she going to tell? Our parents? That would just be cruel."  
"Yeah, I guess so. Who would she tell?"  
"No one."  
"Our secret is safe for now." I tell him as I lean my head on his shoulder.

It's almost eleven as Kento pulls up to my house and I gather my stuff, about to hop out of the car.  
I'm about to open the door when I turn back around and say, "I'll miss you."  
Kento gives a small smile and even in the dark I can his face turn pink and his neck flush red. "I'll miss you, too." I'm about to turn away when he adds, "Goodnight kiss?"  
"Of course." I smile and lean in until my lips meet his.  
The kiss is very slow. It's not at all like the one on the beach when Kento dipped me and kissed me in front of anyone looking at the waves. That one was very fast and full of movement, but this one is slow, almost still, as if we're frozen in time, as if we don't want to let go.  
Beeeeeeeep!  
"Holy s---!" I pull back immediately at the sound of Kento's car horn.  
"Sorry!" Kento shouts after he woke up the entire neighborhood. I see my parents' bedroom light turn on through their window.  
I give a small laugh after realizing it was only Kento's elbow resting on the car horn.  
"Good night, you idiot." I quickly kiss him on the cheek, grab my stuff, and run into my house.


	3. Announcements

The bell rings, dismissing me from class and to lunch where I meet Shori and Tama. It's only the third day back from spring break.  
"So you went to visit a friend in Shizuoka Prefecture, right?" Tama asks Shori.  
"Yes. That's right." Shori responds and nibbles on his crackers.  
"So what'd you do?" Tama turns and asks me.  
"Nothing." I say and pretend like it's true. I mean, it is if you consider going to the beach with your secret boyfriend as nothing. "I just sat at home watching my brother."  
"Is that really all you did?" Tama asks, as if he feels sorry for me. "Your mom said you got to go to the beach." I completely freeze up and he notices. "What? Didn't you go with your piano tutor? That's what your mom said."  
"Why is my mom telling you my plans?" I ask hesitantly and continue eating.  
Tama ignores my nervousness. "Eh. I asked if I could crash at your place and she said you were out on a beach trip with your piano tutor. Hey, isn't he that really popular senior, Nakajima-kun?" He points to That Nakajima who's sitting at a table across the room, laughing.  
"Yeah, that's him." I say.  
"Is he nice?" Tama asks as he pulls out a manga book from his bag. "I mean, is he cool? I remember you used to hate him."  
"Yeah, he's real sweet. Soft lips." I mutter under my breath, so he can't quite hear me.  
"What?"  
"He's cool."  
Tama nods and starts reading, but says, "Speaking of the tutor," when Kento walks over to me.  
"Hey," Kento tells me and nods to Tama and Shori. "We have a piano lesson tomorrow, right?" Kento winks on the left side so that Shori and Tama don't see that.  
I grin and say, "Yeah."  
He smiles at me and as he walks away he claps me on the back and says, "Just wondering."  
I watch him return to his seat and just as he sits down, a teacher calls for everyone's attention.  
It's Ka Sensei.  
"Everyone, now that I have your attention, I would like to remind you all of a rule." Ka Sensei is standing on a chair. "Partly because of a rumor that went around with me before spring break and partly because some teachers have been complaining of PDA. Anyway, there is to be no romantic or sexual relationship regarding any of the students, staff, or teachers at this school. This is because it's an all boys school and the only women are staff members, so that's a no go. I will repeat myself, no romantic relationships between anyone at this school. I know how teenage boys are." Ka Sensei steps down from the chair and leaves the cafeteria.  
I feel my palms become clammy, so I wipe them on my school uniform. I don't dare look at Kento.

At the end of the school, when everyone's bustling about to go home, I find Kento at his locker. I don't walk up to him, but we make eye contact and I nod my head to a small hallway near the restrooms and hold up two fingers, telling him to go there in two minutes. After waiting TEN minutes, he finally arrives.  
"What took so long?" I whisper and cross my arms over my chest.  
"I was trying to lose my friends, but they wanted to walk home together." Kento shrugs. "What's so urgent?"  
I pretend to think for a moment before saying, "Gee, I don't know. Maybe that announcement at lunch was where Ka Sensei basically told me to break up with you."  
Kento considers this for a moment. "I thought so at first, too. But technically, we don't show PDA on school property."  
"Except for yesterday." I remind him.  
"Like someone saw us. We were under the bleachers." Kento reminds me.  
"Yes, but what if someone did?" I ask hypothetically. "Minda Sensei saw us at the beach, and if she had no idea we were dating and she saw us, then she would definitely know for sure."  
"You think it was Minda Sensei who told the other staff members?" Kento asks and puts his hands in his pockets.  
"Yes."  
"But we were only holding hands, so that's not much. Maybe she didn't even see us holding hands in the first place."  
"She winked at me, Kento." I tell him and take a step closer. "She was right behind us. She saw us holding hands."  
"So?"  
"She saw us, Kento!"  
"So what?" Kento snaps at me, not whispering at all. He crosses his arms and he starts breathing a little heavily. "So what if someone saw us together? So what if someone saw us holding hands?" He presses closer to me and I take a step back. "Do you despise the idea of being seen with me so much?"  
I relax my shoulders and try to take his hand but he backs away. "No, no, it's not that."  
"Then what is it? Will I ruin your reputation or something?"  
"No, Kento," I sigh. "You know that's not it."  
"So now you're sighing at me?" Kento raises his eyebrows. "Really? I do? Tell me, why don't you want to be seen with me?"  
"We could be expelled, Kento!" I say, exasperated.  
Kento slowly shakes his head. "No. They can't expel us."  
"Ye- "  
"They can't unless we do... some things... on campus. Otherwise, no, they can't expel us." Kento states and turns away. "You're embarrassed of me." Kento says so quietly I almost can't hear him.  
"What? No, I'm not. Kento- " I protest, but he is already walking down the hall and unless I want all the kids down the other hall to hear me, I keep my mouth shut.  
I sigh once Kento is out of sight and lean my head against the wall.

Minda Sensei is packing up her bags when I walk into her room.  
"Oh, hello, Kikuchi-kun." She nods at me. "Can I help you?"  
"Um," I clear my throat. "So... I saw you at the beach."  
"Oh, yes." She says. "I remember."  
"What exactly do you remember?" I say, but curse myself at how suspiciously I worded it.  
"You were walking with Nakajima-kun." She says and finishes packing her bag, throwing it over her shoulder.  
"Yeah." I nod along. "I was just wondering if you remembered- "  
"That you were holding hands."  
Two things: One, I swear I was going to say, if she remembered to collect sea shells and then I would have just changed the subject. Two, oh, no she saw us. She actually saw us.  
"Um. That's not what I was going to say."  
She gives me a knowing smile. "Really? But it's true, right?"  
I swallow a lump in my throat and nod.  
"Well, I hope you heard Ka Sensei's announcement." She tells me and starts to leave the classroom.  
"Was it you?" I just say.  
"What was?"  
"Did you tell the other staff members that Nakajima-kun and I were holding hands at the beach? Is that why Ka Sensei made that announcement?"  
"Kikuchi-kun, don't be hurt by it or anything, but this is a nice school, not a place for people like you." Minda Sensei frowns at me. "I can't control who you see or what you do in your free time, but if I were you, I'd break up with him."  
"Excuse me? Who even said we were seeing each other?" I glare at her, mad she just assumed, and mad she told me to break up with that Nakajima.  
She tilts her head at me like I'm some lost puppy and I don't like it one bit. "Kikuchi-kun, I was on the beach all day. I saw you kiss him in the water."  
"So you were spying on us?" I demand and raise my voice. I feel heat rising to my cheeks and the thought of him dipping me and then kissing me.  
"No, no. I don't spy on people. When I first saw you two, I wasn't even sure if it was you guys. I just thought you were two random guys and I ignored you. I just happened to look up from my magazine when I saw you kiss him."  
"You just happened to look up?" I shout.  
"Don't you yell at me." Minda Sensei snaps and we both glare at each other. After a few minutes, her gaze softens, but mine only sharpens. "I'm sorry, but you should know the rules."  
"You didn't see us on campus!"  
"And I didn't punish you! I only warned you. Anyway, you should break up with him and find a nice lady. This is a nice school for nice boys who marry nice ladies and have a nice life."  
"If you use the word 'nice' one more time..." I clench my fists and storm out of the room, tears bubbling in my eyes.

I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. I repeat over and over to myself as I throw open my front door and run up the stairs to my bedroom. As soon as my door shuts and I fall onto my bed, hot tears roll down my face. I quickly wipe them away with my sleeve, but they keep coming.  
"Stop it." I complain and flinch when I hear my voice crack. I don't cry often and I'd prefer if I didn't get so overwhelmed by such a matter like this one.  
No matter how hard I try to think about something else, the thought of Kento and I being found, possibly being punished, Kento being mad at me, and Minda Sensei making everything much worse. Not to mention our one day of being alone together was completely ruined. I will never look at those memories the same again. I'll just think, did Minda Sensei see that? every time I think of that day.  
"Fuma." My mom knocks on the door. "Fuma."  
Immediately, I stop sniffling.  
"Are you crying?"  
"No, Mom." I shout, but my voice cracks again and it sounds so frail and hollow.  
My mom opens the door, so I roll over and hide my face in my pillows. Unfortunately, I can't breathe, so I lift my face up and gasp for air, which only makes me cry even harder.  
"Fuma, what's wrong?" My mom sits on the bed beside me, so I roll over on the opposite side.  
"Nothing." I say weakly.  
"Nothing? Like I'm supposed to believe that. Come on, what is it?"  
"I can't tell you."  
"You can't tell me?" My mom sounds offended.  
"Yeah, so can you leave me alone?"  
"Why can't you tell me?"  
"Because it's a secret, Mom!" I shout and she stands up.  
"My boy is not going to keep any secrets from me. Not ones that make my strong boy cry." My mom says firmly. "Tell me."  
"It's nothing to worry about."  
"I know you might think it's embarrassing to cry, but I'm your mother." Her voice softens. "You can speak to me."  
"It's none of your business."  
My mom turns me around so that I'm facing her. "Does it have to do with me? School?"  
I scoff.  
"If someone is messing with you..."  
"No one is messing with me, Mom."  
"Then what is it? Girl Trouble?"  
That one makes me laugh aloud.  
"So it's a girl?"  
"What? No, I- "  
"What's her name?" She says eagerly and wipes a rolling tear off my cheek, but I swat her hand away.  
"Stop."  
"Does she go to your school? Wait, no she doesn't."  
"Stop." I groan.  
"Is she pretty?"  
"Stop, Mom." I stand up, walk across the room, and open my door, gesturing for my mom to leave. "I want to be left alone."  
"Did she reject you? Have you even gone on a date?" My mom walks toward me, but she doesn't leave.  
"No, stop."  
"Did she break up with you?"  
"Please, Mom..." My voice pleads for her to stop. Why is she being so nosy?  
"Fuma, I will not handle lightly my son crying over some girl. Is she a nice lady?"  
That's it. That stupid word 'nice' again.  
"You want to know, Mom? You want to know what my 'girl' troubles are like?" I almost shout and she looks taken aback, but what was she expecting? Me to just keep calm and tell her my feelings? Yeah, like that's gonna happen. I keep opening my mouth to speak, to say 'It's Kento', but I can't. I can't do that to him. I just shake my head and gesture for her to leave and she does.

I knock on Kento's door for our piano lesson. We haven't spoken since our fight and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't answer, but he does.  
"Hey." He says with no trace of a smile on his face.  
"Hey." I return with an equal amount of enthusiasm. "Are your parents home?"  
"Yeah." He tells me and when I thought he would just stand there, he opens the door a little wider to let me in.  
We walk to the piano and just as we both sit down on the piano seat, Kento's dog comes running in the room barking.  
"You've got to be kidding me." I say as the dog jumps into my lap and starts barking even louder.  
Kento grabs Bonita and cradles her in his arms. She stops barking for the time being.  
"Kento, we need to talk." I tell him bluntly and he nods like he's been expecting this. "I'm sorry, Kento. I'm sorry for making you feel like I don't want to be seen with you."  
He nods grimly and looks at Bonita. "So it's true? You don't want to be seen with me, but you're sorry for it?"  
"What?" I shake my head. "That's not it, Kento. I- I- I'm not ready. I don't know if your parents know you're gay, but mine don't. In fact, no one does, but you, and I- I- just don't think I'm ready to tell everyone."  
Kento looks up and makes eye contact with me. "I understand. My parents know, but they don't know about you."  
"If they know, then why am I a secret?" I ask.  
"Because they'd make me cancel piano lessons." Kento says sadly. "Not the most supportive parents." I nod and Kento continues while stroking Bonita's back. "I'm sorry for snapping at you."  
I wave his apology off. "It was my fault."  
Kento gives a soft laugh in agreement.  
"By the way," I think about Minda Sensei. "Minda Sensei knows about us."  
"What? How do you know?"  
"I talked to her." I blurt.  
Kento's eyes widen and he asks, "What did you say?"  
"I just brought up seeing her at the beach and asked what she remembered- "  
"Seriously?" Kento's eyes are the size of golf balls.  
"Yeah, seriously." I tell him. "One thing lead to another and it turns out she told Ka Sensei to make the announcement because we go to a 'nice school' and should be dating 'nice ladies'."  
Kento slowly shakes his head. "Great. Did she tell anyone about us? Like, it's Kento and Fuma?"  
"I don't know."  
Kento pinches his lips together. "I'm tired of sneaking around with you, Fuma."  
I nod. "It's kind of fun."  
"Yeah, but... I want to be able to see you in public. Around here. And hang out with you and not call our date a 'piano lesson'. I want to brag to my friends that I have the best boyfriend ever."  
"I'm the best boyfriend ever?"  
"Oh, yeah."  
I smile at him. "Yeah, I guess you're all right."  
Kento hits me on the shoulder before giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. Of course I kiss him back, but it must look like I am attacking him because Bonita starts barking like mad.  
"Kento!" His mom calls from upstairs. "Shut your dog up!"

"Mom, I'm home." I say to my mom who's watching TV this late at night. It's about nine at night, but my brother's already asleep which is great because I don't want him to hear this.  
"Oh, hey, Fuma." My mom says and flips the page in her magazine. "Did you have a nice lesson?"  
"Yeah." I say and sit beside her. "Hey, Mom, what would you do if I said I've been dating someone?"  
"Oooh, who is it? Tell me! Tell me!"  
"Oh, you know, that person...."  
"Who? Is it Dasuke, the neighbor?" She grins. "Or Bella, the American girl who works at the park?"  
"No, Mom. It's, uh, it's... " I lick my lips.  
"Is it your music teacher?" She clasps her hands together. "Please don't be a teacher. Please don't be a teacher."  
"Mom." I cut and she looks at me. "It's Kento-kun."  
Her wide smile falls downward into a pout and she looks away from me. "Kento... Nakajima-kun?"  
"Yes." I with seriously.  
"How long have you been dating?"  
"Um... well, you see," I try to find a way to explain our relationship. "We kissed, but then we didn't see each other for a week. And then we did start seeing each other... so three weeks?"  
"Almost a month?"  
"Yeah."  
"Well, if you really like him." She ponders for a moment. "Then I guess you're allowed to date him."  
"You know I would keep dating him even if you said no?" I tell her and she glares at me.  
Then something hits her (-not literally). "Wait... I let you go on a day-trip with him."  
"Yup." I say and I get up and start walking up the stairs.  
"And do you know how many times he's been in your bedroom?"  
"Yup." I call out from the top of the stairs.  
"And you've been alone together, how many times?"  
"Yup!"  
"What do you even do at piano lessons?"  
"Yup!" I call out and shut my bedroom door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think I went overboard with the pushy mom ><
> 
> Oh, wow. I just realized how long this chapter is.


End file.
